**Official** Love Story discussion thread.

The love story was handled well by all and was believable. It was touching and tender and strong. Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman had great chemistry and gave great performances. The dialogue was emotional and beautiful and the deliveries were right on. The love story is very important. A lot rides on it and everyone nailed it.

 

How does lucas expect us to believe that Amidala would actually WANT to be with Anakin after he goes off on that manical rage, when everything about her character we know up until then would say otherwise.

Anakin: I killed all of them... even the women and children... they are just animals! I hate them!...

Amidala: That's okay Annie, I'll still accept you as the father of my twins in the next movie, and I'll even profess my love to you in the next 30 minutes of film! Kill all the innocent tribespeople you want! I'm down!

i can't buy that.

 

love story needs as lot of work. on first viewing i thought it was awful. on second and third viewing its not that bad anymore, but its still amazingly awkward. maybe it is the lines. i wished they'd just shut up and let the music speak for the scene. John Williams can do much better than whatever Lucas or J.Hales can come up with.

 

I loved it! Yes, I am a girl, but that does not mean I instantly fall in love with any and every love story. This one was believable. It was cheesy, very cheesy at times, but it's Star Wars. Anyone with a complaint of some of the lines should re-review the OT. It's very much one in the same with Han/Leia.

As for time, I see no other way to have done the story. It had to be done this way for a variety of different reasons. First, we needed to see Anakin and Padme reunite at the beginning. It wouldn't have worked properly if they had already been reunited off screen. Furthermore, we had to see a more "accelerated" rate of falling in love. However, this is no different than the rate Han & Leia fell in love, and that love story worked well. Many, many movies with love stories present them in a similar pace. There really isn't another way to do it in a two hour movie.

Suspension of disbelief. And I disbelieved enough to believe it. It was perfect.

 

I can buy why she wanted to be with anakin even after he killed the tuskens. Many women in the real world stay with their men, even though their men do bad things.

But i thought the love story was unbelievable. I was too rushed. There eeded to be more substance for me to believe they were in love.
The dialogue was fine, hayden and natalie were natural but i just felt there was somethiing missing which was crucial to me believing it.

 

Thought the love story was well done. By critics they made it seem like it dominated the middle portion of the film.

First comment. How much time devoted to Love Story elements.

To me there were about a total of 10 minutes of screen time devoted to the Love Story. There is about a 1 minute when they are on the transport ship to Naboo. Another minute or minute and 1/2 when they get to the lake. 2 Minutes when they are at the picnic. 1 minute at the dinner table and 3 minutes by the fire. Then not until the scene before the arena was there anymore mush mush stuff as some would put it.

Second point. Why would she go for him especially after the massacre?

They have a history one where he has helped save her planet. She just heard that not only had the Tusken Raiders taken away Shmi ut had killed 26 people. Krieg Lars describes them as monsters even though they walk like men. They have tortured his mother for a month. Finally a flaw of hers she takes on projects to fix the world. She feels that only she can fix Anakin's wounds.

Third point...Chemistry...I thought that the chemistry between Hayden and Natalie was great. Critics just dont understand that they both have been razed to be very proper. What all of a sudden they want to see them dancing on tables to show they are in love.

 

I can't jive with the history, "anakin helped save her planet." That was a fluke and totally not intentional. He had no idea what he was doing when he was doing it. She may have felt some sort of gratitude towards him at that point "what a brave little boy you are, here's a sucker" but there should have been no attraction at that point.

She stays with him even though he's bad? So, this infamous romance is nothing more than a common abusive relationship that one can find on Oprah?

Dark Jedi and the Politicians who love them, on the next Sebulba.

ugh.

 

The love story is pathetic... Anyone who actually thinks its good either A) is in some sort of denial or B) never been in love. First of all, the dialog makes you want to cringe. I see Hayden doing his best to deliver the lines convincingly, but I mean even the actors probably realize how corny it is. Second, there is very little chemistry between the two in the beginning of the movie. I mean one minute Hayden is complaining about sand, and the next their kissing. Where and when did Padme start warming up to Anakin for this kiss to even happen? Way way too abrupt.

I will admit that as the film progresses it does get better. I especially like the kiss on the check Padme gives Anakin as she gets on the Reek in the final battle. So starting from the latter stages of Tatooine till the end of the movie the affection is believeable, but all that stuff on Naboo is crap.

The only thing we have to compare this to is Han/Leia obviously. While I'll admit its also pretty abrupt, but at least the dialogue and direction is handled better. Please oh please, where is Irvin Kirschner.

I will admit though that knowing the future about the lovers really does bum you out. I'm not sure if its just the idea, or whether its an emotional attachment you get with the characters.

 

When they first met I thought; "Wow this is working nicely." I liked Anikan and Padme's diolouge while on Coruscant. Hayden's delivery was right on the mark. On the frieghter I was dreading the "Are you allowed to love?" scene but again Hayden's expressions and delivery pulled it off.

The first kiss was where events started to seem a little rushed. It was just wierd that all of a sudden they start kissing. It seemed really abrupt. That scene was saved though by the way Natalie pulled away and the music deid. It got some laughs. Hayden's expression after she pulled away was great too.

The picnic scene was where things really started to slide for me. It started off great, with Hayden's dictatorship philsosphy but after that it went downhill.

It seemed like at this point GL would just throw Hayden and Natalie into romantic setting after setting and hope that it would work. When the fireplace scene popped up it was almost to much. It felt almost like a parody of a romance at that point.

After that scene I began to feel very uncomfortable and began to dread whenever it would cut to Anikan and Padme.

They were crazy to put Anikan's dream in there. When it cut to that scene everyone started laughing.

Butttt... After that things really start rolling. When Anikan and Padme enter the arena they finally seem to be truly in love.

All in all, you have to know what to expect when approching the love story. I think GL described it the best by saying it's not a love sonnet but rather a love hiku. Short and sweet. Don't go in expecting the Titanic.

 

The love story is pathetic and ruined the film for me...

Why? Well, I could almost believe it (even though it was rushed) except for the way Anakin was portrayed in this film.

He acts like a spoiled, whiney, 10 year old. I didn't see for a minute why Padme would ever fall in love with him.

Everytime Hayden delivered those really cheesy lines, I cringed because it just ruined my suspension of disbelief even further.

I'm sorry. I could live with it being rushed but not the poor writing and directing. I really don't blame Hayden - I think Lucas pretty much directed him to act that way.

Come one... "I'm going to make it so no one will ever die." What kind of rubbish is that??? Is he still 10 years old???

 

On, and another thing... I totally disagree that this love story is along the same lines and Han and Leia.

First of all, Han and Leia spent MUCH more time together.

Second of all, Han was a rogue sure enough, but he was charming and brave. He had redeeming qualities that I could see a strong princess falling in love with.

On the other hand, Anakin just whines a lot and slaughters women and children. Yeah, there sure is a lot there for Padme to fall for...

 

lull...

They would have never made it back to Naboo in TPM if a certain podrace wasnt won.

 

Couple of question for the people find that because of the massacre of Tusken Raiders. That how could Padme love him.

Well Luke still loved his father enough in ROTJ to trust in him and in the end make him the hero. And we all seem to think that is kosher. How many people did Vader let die on Alderaan?

 

Well, there's a difference. Luke forgave his father. Padme fell in love with a murderer.

But it's not really just that. To me I just didn't see any reason Padme would fall for him (well maybe he looks good, but I'm a guy, I wouldn't know).

Come in - in general, very attractive and stong women do not go for whiney, immature men. All I can figure is that she still sees him as that 10 year old kid and felt sorry for him.

 

I think most people would do the same thing that Padme did, and that's try to comfort him. Not much time to think about the act.

 

I think its pretty futile to try to rationalize any of Padme's feelings for Anakin in light of the Tusken massacre (or to being with for that matter). The love aspect of Episode II is just bad. Thinking about it more, the part that is the biggest stretch is still why Padme likes Anakin because its not entirely obvious. Maybe after we watch it 5 or 6 times it'll make sense. But, I think we'll have to live with this as long as Lucas insists on directing the prequels himself. Thinking about Han/Leia its a little thin too (although typical for an action movie romance). There must be something else to it and I think its the directing.

 

The love story wasnt something I was looking forward too (the Forbidden love trailer is my least favourite), but I really liked how it turned out. I thought Natalie and Hayden did great, it was a little rushed, but they had more to do than the Han and Leia one, Anakin and Padme had to marry, so their relationship had to go futher in one film than Han and Leia. Some of the cheesy lines were not as bad as made out to be either.

 

I think the romance was beautiful
and heartachingly moving!
But not as beautiful
as Padme though!
No wonder that Anakin
fell head over heels!
She is a godess!

 

Those lines from Anakin weren´t cheesy!
They were quite geniune as anyone
would have felt about a girl
as amazing as Padmé.
A rejection from a girl like
that could be a pure torment
for the soul!
Believe me I know!

 

The love story was my only disappointment with AOTC (otherwise I thought it kicked ass). The dialogue was pretty awful, and Hayden and Natalie looked kind of stilted without the chemistry I expected from them. It didn't really seem like they were falling in love to me, more like they were acting out in a show of falling in love and saying all the right things. And getting married after only knowing each other for like a week seemed very rushed to me...

 

The love story was great! Great acting, great dialogue, great chemistry! And plus, who wouldn't be totally infatuated with Padme?

 

What bugs me is that the entire "rushed" nature of the romance could have easily been fixed by simply starting the film off with Anakin already assigned to "protection" duty - just say he'd been with her for a month or so.

Like a previous poster said - geez, they sure do get hitched quickly in a galaxy far, far away.

 

Just got back from a second viewing of AOTC. Still have the same thought about this "tragic romance".

It works...

Also I timed the scenes this time to prove a point. Not one of them was over 3 minutes from start to end. With a total of 12 minutes dedicated to the romance.

 

I thought the love story was understated (to positive effect) throughout the film, and that if it had been more "passionate" that it would have been a killer. Certainly the dialogue wasn't absolutely wonderful, but it worked, and the acting was very good.

Also, I am of the view that just because we don't see it on screen does not mean it didn't happen. They could have talked for hours during their time together, but that's not something we'd be able to see (in any film with any set of characters).

It leaves much to the imagination, and that's good.

 

I thought it was protrayed wonderfully. I loved how they both had these feels of tormet and anguish and love at the same time.